While some workers question managers’ honesty, other research finds a more positive outlook
Large numbers of American workers distrust their bosses, and many question their honesty and integrity, two different recent surveys show.
The New Employer/Employee Equation Survey, conducted by Harris Interactive Inc. for the think tank Age Wave, seems to paint a particularly ugly picture, finding that only 36 percent of workers believe top managers act with honesty and integrity.
Watson Wyatt’s WorkUSA survey, relied upon by many human resource experts, found more positive attitudes, with 70 percent of workers saying they believe their employer conducts business with honesty and integrity. But only 50 percent believe what managers tell them.
In 2002, WorkUSA had found only 37 percent of workers trusted their managers, and 63 percent believed their company was run with integrity. Researchers attributed the improvement to the better condition of the economy.
The latest WorkUSA poll covered more than 12,700 non-government workers at organizations with 1,000 or more employees. The Harris poll covered 7,718 workers at companies of all sizes.
Such levels of dissatisfaction and distrust should give employers pause, said Lynda St. Clair, a management professor at Bryant University and co-editor of “Pressing Problems in Modern Organizations (That Keep Us Up At Night).”
“All those kinds of responses make me nervous personally,” St. Clair said. “To me there’s a problem if we’re looking at anything below 90 percent of workers who think their managers are doing a good job, and they trust them and they’re confident.”
St. Clair said several factors may be affecting workers’ attitudes: Some just have “bad managers,” she said, people who are “so worried about appearing to be in control that they send signals that they don’t trust their employees,” and get distrust in return.
But the economy and the choices companies must make between doing right by their employees and serving their customers and stockholders also come into play, she said. “You have these competing expectations that companies have to manage, and it’s difficult.”
It helps to just tell workers what’s going on, St. Clair said.
“You have to be upfront with people,” she said. “You need to say, ‘We need to understand economic reality.
This is how you fit into that picture, and we’ll keep you posted,’ so you don’t read the newspaper one day and find out that your company has been sold.”
Workers also appreciate what experts call “procedural justice,” St. Clair said, the sense that fair and proper procedures were followed to decide, say, who will be promoted. And in some situations, seeking workers’ input can be “very effective” – say, if the company can’t afford to give them raises and keep their benefits intact, maybe they should choose.
But if you’re going to ask, St. Clair said, you’ve got to listen. Otherwise, workers will trust managers even less, and feel betrayed.
Karen Schoch, vice president for human resources at Women & Infants’ Hospital, named “Best Place to Work” in last year’s PBN Business Excellence Awards, said hospital managers try to listen constantly to their workers, focusing on specific ways to address their concerns.
“Employee satisfaction is a work in progress,” she said. “It’s something that always has to be monitored. It’s almost a living, breathing organism.” So the hospital conducts surveys, and it has teams to work with each unit to meet the nurses’ needs: One group was having difficulties with the rigid eight-hour shift rotation, so some 12-hour shifts were created. Other units wanted to have more frequent staff meetings. On two floors, physical upgrades topped the list.
“We’re always working on this,” Schoch said. “We have groups within our management team about how we can better communicate. … This is an art; it really is not a science. Are we working at it in a very deliberate way, and is that making a difference in terms of business results? Yes. But we’re not perfect at it.”
At the Washington Trust Company, the 2003 “Best Place to Work,” employees chose the bank’s corporate values motto, “Quality, Integrity & Community,” through a series of team meetings with supervisors. The company also makes a point of recognizing its workers’ efforts, with annual awards for long-standing service, community involvement and living out the “Spirit of Washington Trust,” and “pay for performance” incentives.
But how do you get workers to believe in the company itself? The Harris survey made a direct connection between the recent corporate scandals and workers’ distrust of their own employers, and St. Clair said it’s hard to tell to what extent people’s perceptions are colored by their own experience, or based on what they see in the media.
“We’ve had some serious corporate scandals with very serious corporate wrongdoing,” she said, and that might breed a feeling that “managers can’t be trusted and are just out for themselves.”
At the same time, St. Clair added, within a company, different people will have different standards about what’s unethical and what goes against the company’s mission. And the more dedicated workers are, the more they have “a real sense of calling,” the angrier they’ll be.
“It’s your most loyal employee who, when they feel betrayed because something happens that they don’t feel is appropriate, that’s when you’re going to have a big problem,” St. Clair said. “That is a dangerous position, because the other data that we have is that we get the best results from highly committed employees.”
Other key findings of the New Employer/Employee Equation Survey include:
– Only 45 percent of workers say they are satisfied with their jobs, but only 20 percent are “very passionate,” and only 31 percent say their employer inspires the best in them.
– Managers aren’t much happier: Only 63 percent said they care about the fate of their organization, and just over a one-third felt their employers inspire the best in them or are willing to promote their organization as a great place to work.
– Workers at small firms (under 50 employees) are more satisfied, more likely to feel “energized,” and more likely to be “very passionate” (53 percent vs. 36 percent at large firms). They are also more willing to make an extra effort to help the organization succeed (61 percent vs. 43 percent) and say they would take “almost any job” to stay there (29 percent vs. 16 percent).
– Health coverage is employees’ top priority, more important than future retirement coverage, prescription drug or other benefits. Beyond traditional benefits, workers are increasingly seeking jobs that provide them with opportunities to learn and grow.
– Nearly all workers want more time off, especially paid vacation time, which they valued above paid maternity leave or flexible work schedules.
